National Roundup

California
Couple’s $86M award in pesticide case stands
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s highest court rejected on Wednesday a challenge by Monsanto Co.’s to $86.2 million in damages to a couple who developed cancer after spraying the company’s Roundup weed-killer in their yards for three decades.

The state Supreme Court’s denial of review upholds an appeals court’s ruling in favor of Alva and Alberta Pilliod.

The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco found in a 2-1 ruling in August that Monsanto was at fault for knowingly marketing a product whose active ingredient, glyphosate, could be dangerous.

Monsanto’s parent company, Bayer, said it disagreed with the high court’s decision.

“We continue to stand strongly behind the safety of Roundup, a position supported by assessments of expert regulators worldwide as well as the overwhelming weight of four decades of extensive science,” the company said in a statement.

Brent Wisner, a lawyer for the Pilliods, told the San Francisco Chronicle the verdict “was based on solid science and unanimous law” and the company should halt its “frivolous appeals.”

Bayer announced over the summer that it would stop selling the current version of Roundup for home and garden use in U.S. stores, starting in 2023.

Bayer said it would replace the herbicide’s main ingredient, glyphosate, with an unspecified active ingredient, subject to federal and state approval, while continuing to sell Roundup with glyphosate for farm use.

Bayer has agreed to pay $10 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits that have already been filed in state and federal courts and has sought, unsuccessfully so far, to resolve future lawsuits with a settlement fund of up to $2 billion, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Missouri
Authorities: Missing woman was killed, dismembered
BUFFALO, Mo. (AP) — Two men were charged with first-degree murder Wednesday after human remains found at a southwest Missouri home were identified as a missing woman who was photographed partially nude inside a cage, authorities said.

James Phelps and Timothy Norton were also charged with abandonment of a corpse after DNA tests positively identified the remains found at Phelps’ home near Lebanon as 33-year-old Cassidy Rainwater, Dallas County officials said.

Norton’s lawyer, Brenden Twi­bell, told the Springfield News-Leader the charges were expected and Norton will plead not guilty.

Phelps’ lawyer did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Norton and Phelps were also charged with abandoning a corpse in addition to the first-degree murder and kidnapping charges. Norton is set to appear in court next Tuesday, and Phelps on Friday.

Phelps and Norton have been jailed on a kidnapping charge since mid-September, when photos of Rainwater partially nude and in a cage were found on Phelps’ phone, authorities said.

Dallas County Sheriff Scott Rice said Wednesday in a Facebook post that the seven photos also showed Rainwater’s body on a gantry crane, which is commonly used for deer processing, where she was disemboweled and dismembered before her body was placed in a bathtub. Some remains were found in a freezer, he said.

Rice said Norton told investigators Phelps asked him to help kill Rainwater while she was staying at Phelps’ home. He said he held Rainwater down while Phelps put a plastic bag over her head and strangled her, according to Rice.

Sheriff’s deputies were contacted in August by a woman who said Rainwater hadn’t been seen since July and Phelps was the last person she was seen with.

In September, Phelps twice told investigators that Rainwater was staying with him while she got on her feet, but he said he hadn’t seen her since she left about a month ago and that she was going to Colorado, Rice said.

On Sept. 16, the FBI provided the photos of Rainwater to Dallas County detectives, who arrested Phelps. Norton was arrested on Sept. 20 after speaking to authorities.

Investigators searched Phelps’ home for seven days and found the gantry device, cage and items in the freezer that appeared to be human remains, Rice said. Those items were dated July 24. Digital evidence found at the scene revealed messages between Phelps and Norton planning Rainwater’s death, the sheriff said.

Some skeletal remains believed to be Rainwater were located on the adjacent property, authorities said.

On Oct. 4, a fire that investigators have ruled an arson destroyed Phelps’ home. Officials investigating the fire found two explosive devices made with mortar tubes and balloon covers, with tripwires attached, near the home.

Investigators have no evidence to indicate that any other victims are associated with Phelps and Norton, the sheriff said.

Hawaii
Adoptive parents indicted for murder of girl, 6
HONOLULU (AP) — A grand jury on Wednesday indicted a Hawaii couple for the murder of their 6-year-old adopted daughter they reported missing.

The body of Isabella Kalua, known by some by her birth name of Ariel, has not been found.

Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm announced that Isaac and Lehua Kalua are charged with second-degree murder, hindering prosecution and other charges.

Police believe Isabella was killed about a month before the Kaluas reported her missing. According to court documents, the girl’s older biological sister, also adopted by the Kaluas, told a detective she saw Isabella in a dog cage, with duct tape on her nose and mouth and not breathing.

The Kaluas were being held without bail. A public defender entered not guilty pleas on their behalf in court last week. They are now being represented by court-appointed attorneys. Isaac Kalua’s attorney, Donovan Odo, and Lehua Kalua’s attorney, Jason Say, declined to comment.

“This is a heinous crime,” Alm said. “They need to be held accountable for it.”

The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with the possibility for parole. But because Isabella was younger than 8, Alm said he will seek an enhanced sentence of life without parole if the Kaluas are convicted.

Police declined to discuss efforts to find Isabella’s body. Alm said it’s possible to prosecute the Kaluas even if a body isn’t recovered.

“It’s not the most common situation, but it certainly is possible,” he said.

Lehua Kalua is also charged with abuse of a family member, Alm said. According to court documents, the Kaluas also adopted another of Isabella’s siblings and were foster parents to another sibling.

“The abuse involved more than one child,” Alm said.

Lehua Kalua’s murder charge involves allegedly inflicting the damage that led to Isabella’s death, Alm said, and not taking reasonable steps to seek medical help for her. The husband is charged with what’s referred to as murder by omission, by not helping Isabella, Alm said.